Bonjour à tous! N'inquietez pas — je suis déjà ici ! Je parlerai un peu de français aujourd'hui.
I went travelling again about a week ago (Braunschweig/Brunswick, Bremen, and Hannover. I also visited Marburg ereyesterday) so I haven't been here much. I am also going to Strasbourg tomorrow hence why I have not been doing a lot for German, and instead just absolutely binging all the French content that I can. I now bitterly regret starting French in Jan/Feb and then doing practically nothing besides the occasional France24 channel watching and listening of songs since then
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I'm now approaching the end of Lingvist's French collection (currently at 4,800 words out of 5,091) and Lingvist is honestly the only paid programme I would recommend to people. If you do decide to pay,
do it on the website because it's cheaper than on the App and then you can just download the app anyway. I should probably list the major other things I've done with French over the year:
* Easy French/Super Easy French YouTube Kanal
* There was a German TV series for learning French called 'Bon Courage', and a follow-up called 'C'est ça, la vie' which I've been binging.
* I've been reading story books tailored to A1, then A2, and now I have an A2-B1 one which is not so easy.
* I like to go through the Duolingo Stories and Podcast sometimes. I don't do the tree so much, only when I want to force myself to practice some kind of writing.
* I read through a few chapters of French by the nature method (sorry forgot the exact title). I didn't mind this but it can be very dry to read sentences like "Elle est Madame Duclot. Ils sont Madame et Monsieur Duclot. Il est le fille de Madame et Monsieur Duclot." for several pages. I would rather use something like this for a language which is much more difficult to start off in.
* I have the app Apprende Le Français by TV5Monde and do the exercises there sometimes.
* (I'm too lazy to find the circumflex sorry) Le fete des Mots on Netflix and some Peppa Pig on YT.
* I also found this nifty little textbook in a public bookcase ''cours de Langue et de Civilisation Françaises'' by G. Mauger. I've been flicking through it to re-inforce the basics from time to time.
I didn't completely forget my French between March-Aug thankfully, but it definitely got very rusty. Unlike when I learnt German, this time I have completely lost the worry to be perfectionistic about it all. I make so many mistakes still, because I am but a débutant, and I'm just gonna have to roll with it in France. I've also dedicated little time towards the active skills because I know my vocabulary and deep understanding of the structure of the language is just too shallow for me to be able to form sentences quick enough and to know when something sounds quite off. I'm not sure who it is who recommends you don't try to speak straight away, but I kind of understand and appreciate that theory somewhat now.
Oh and after France I'm off to Luxembourg where I will also need French, so the necessity and stress are quite high at the moment
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.